2,742 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by International Assets Investment Management LLC

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $111,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 16.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $202,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.9% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MKT Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.33.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.3 %

JEF stock opened at $43.70 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.81 and a 1-year high of $47.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.82 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.36%.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.